{Four}

Your P.O.V.

I remember my first day of high school.

Let's go back a little bit. It was near the end of my last year of elementary school. I remember coming home that one Friday, and hearing my mom saying to me that we were going to be moving to a new town soon.

At the beginning, I thought it was going to be a small town, quiet like the countryside where we were living right now, but much more interesting and alive with people hustling and bustling this way and that. The nearest city was pretty far from where we lived at the time, so any trips made there was very rare.

Well, we ended up moving to the city! It was a big transition for us, since me and my mom lived in the countryside our whole lives. However, we quickly settled down and my mom eventually got a job at a local bookstore. Even though money was tight, at least we had food on the table every night. And once I was old enough, I got my own job. At Wammy's Café.

But anyway, that didn't happen after I met Mello and Matt.

Summer that year eventually ended. And despite the fact that I was now living in a place with a bigger population of people my own age, I hardly made any friends. Sure, I chatted to about two or three people but I don't think I made a good or lasting impression on them. So in the end, I found myself spending nearly the whole summer inside, playing Final Fantasy VII.

And when the first day of high school arrived, I promised myself I would come home with at least one friend made that day.

That…Didn't happen.

In fact, apart from one or two teachers, hardly anyone approached me. I didn't get it, people all around me were making friends like there was no tomorrow, and here I was, sitting by myself in the corner of a classroom. Then I thought, "Why shouldn't I make the first move myself?"

Bad idea.

During lunch time that same day, I finally decided to talk to a group of nearby girls. I thought they looked friendly, and was hoping they'd let me sit beside them. Instead, I got ridiculed and walked off while still hearing them laughing and talking about me rudely behind my back.

A couple of weeks passed, and I was about to give up on the whole "I'm going to make a friend today no matter what!" thing. But just as I was about to sink into nothingness on my seat in the back corner of my chemistry class one day, my teacher had decided to land a group project on us. I was praying that the teacher hadn't already organized who we're working with so I could hopefully ask them afterwards if I can do it on my own since I basically knew…Nobody.

But I was short on luck.

And so, I was put together with a boy named Mihael Keehl. For a boy, he had long blonde hair that hovered above his shoulders, and piercing blue eyes. In about an hour of knowing him, I found him to be snappy and short-tempered which made him scary in a way.

But he was undoubtedly smart, and did most of the planning on the project that we were to work on for the next week and a half. Chemistry was one of my weak spots, so I was pretty happy about getting paired up with Mihael[1].

The next week and a half was torture though. Despite the amount of good progress we were getting on with the project, since I was weak in chemistry, I wasn't much help to Mihael. I could tell he was getting pissed off at the fact that he had to do all the heavy work like researching and note taking while I just wrote the final draft for it all….After he had corrected it.

Still, he didn't verbally complain and there was a certain proud air around him that said "It's so obvious that I'm smarter than you".

On the last day of the project, I was getting ready to go home when Mihael stopped me. "You were pretty useless with the project, y'know?" He said. I slowly nodded. There was no use denying it, and talking back wasn't an option since he did do all the hard work.

"…You remind me of my friend, Matt." He finally said. I nodded again before walking pass him. Mihael stopped me again, "Look, do you want to meet him or not?"

Confused, since this was the most that Mihael talked to me about anything, I asked, "…Are you inviting me to hang out with you or something?"

The frown on his face deepened, "…Yeah, so?"

And, for the first time in a long time, I giggled.

"Alright, sure!"

"Wow…" I thought, looking around the housing estate we were currently walking through. The houses here were big and fancy, and some of them looked pretty modern. Beautiful gardens and expensive cars decorated the front of the houses, and some were sporting big, black gates that stopped anyone from entering unless they had a remote to open it, or talked through the speaker that was at the side of the gate to whoever was inside.

We reached the end of the street, and I looked up to see another of those houses with the big, black gates. Pass the gate, I could see a huge front garden, and a small road big enough for one car to drive though leading from the gate to the garage and front porch of the house. I watched as Mihael took out a small remote from his pocket, probably to open the gate with a single push of the button.

We stood waiting for the gate to open, but when it didn't, Mihael tried pushing the button again. After another minute passed, and we were both sure that the gate wasn't going to open anytime soon, Mihael cursed. He walked over to the speaker at the side of the gate, and pressed the red button on it. "Watari!" He called, "The gate's not opening!"

"I'm sorry, Mello." A man's voice said through the speaker. "It's not the gate, it's the remotes. The same thing happened to mine, and I'm currently working on resolving the problem. It should be fixed by tomorrow, but in the mean time…"

The sound of a slight creak could be heard, and the gate opened. Mihael straightened up, and started leading the way again. Before we could reach the porch, however, the front door opened and there standing in the doorway was an old man dressed in a neatly pressed black suit.

I could see his eyes darting to me before quickly turning back to Mihael, "A new friend, Mello?"

There it was again, "Mello". I was starting to wonder why Mihael was being called "Mello", but my pondering was soon interrupted. "Uh, yeah." Mihael answered, walking up the steps. "Is Matt here already?"

"Upstairs, in your room." The old man replied, making room for Mello to pass through the door. They both turned back to me, who was still standing stupidly outside. "Aren't you going to come in?" Mihael asked. I quickly nodded my head, rushing up the steps.

"Sorry for intruding…" I mumbled. The old man chuckled, "Make yourself at home."

The front hall was huge. On the left, there was the doorway leading to the living room where I could see a flat screen TV hanging above a burning fireplace through the crack of the door. On the far wall was the open doorway to the kitchen, were I could see an island counter filled with delicious looking sweet treats. The staircase leading upstairs was on my right, and I could see the hallway upstairs from where I was standing. On the ceiling was a huge chandelier, brightly lighting up the room.

"I'm Watari, the butler of the house." The old man introduced. I blinked, "So, this is the man that Mihael was talking to earlier…" I thought.

"You're not the butler of the house, Watari." Mihael said, putting away his jacket in a cupboard under the stairs. "Hmm, think whatever you want, Mello." Watari smiled, kindly taking my jacket from me and putting it away with Mihael's.

"Mello!" We all heard thundering footsteps above us, and looked up just in time to see a boy with dark red hair and goggles covering his eyes leaning over the railing. We watched as he ran down the stairs, taking the steps two at a time, before joining Mihael at his side. He wore a black and white striped long-sleeved top, his hands covered with black gloves that stopped just below his elbows.

"Who's the girl?" He asked, looking over at me. Mihael sighed, "That's [Name], Matt. She's my partner for that chemistry project I told you about."

Matt whistled, "Well, it looks like you two definitely have a lot of chemistry together! You've never brought a girl home before, Mello."

Mihael sighed again, lightly pushing Matt, "Stupid, you wanted to meet her, didn't you? And L said I should bring her over tonight."

"I did?" A man with black hair and dark eyes stepped out from the kitchen. There were shadows underneath his eyes, and he wore a simple long-sleeved white shirt and blue jeans. He walked towards us with a slight hunch, his hands in his pockets.

"Yeah, you did!" Mihael said, slightly annoyed. "Why else would I have brought her over?"

"Well, that hurt." I thought, now shuffling awkwardly on the spot. Bowing my head slightly, I said my goodbyes, "Sorry for intruding, I'll leave now."

I was ready to grab my coat from the cupboard, when a hand reached out and stopped me. It was L, "Stay for dinner, Watari made more than enough food for everyone here. Where's Near?"

I heard Mihael snort behind me, "Probably up in his room, like always."

Once I was done calling my mom and telling her that I'd be staying at Mihael's house for dinner tonight, I joined everybody else at the table. The table was already laid out with food, such as mashed potatoes and roasted ham. Followed by peas and carrots, and a ton of pastries that took up more than half the table. I gaped at the amount of food that was there.

"Y'know, if you keep doing that, your face is going to stay that way." Matt said, passing me a carton of orange juice.

"Not true." I mumbled, taking the orange juice from him. I was sitting besides Matt, Mihael sitting across from us with Watari at his side. L was sitting at the top of the table, while Near was sitting at the opposite end. I was going to guess he was Near, as that's what people were referring to him as.

He had unusual white hair, and grey eyes. He wore a white long-sleeved pyjama top with matching pants and played with a strand of his hair a lot.

"More potatoes, Near?" Watari asked, holding up the dish. Near looked up, shook his head and returned back to his plate. Thinking about it, I haven't heard him talk yet. He was pretty quiet, and sat similarly like L, both hunched over in their seat rather than sitting.

There was a light atmosphere at the table, and consisted mainly of small talk, apart from Mihael and Matt. They were the loudest out of everyone, talking and laughing loudly across the table while Watari and L would make small conversation with each other every now and then. I only joined in whenever someone talked to me first, while Near didn't join in at all throughout the meal.

Observing everyone on the table, my curiosity couldn't help but get the better of myself. Questions kept building up in my mind, such as where were Mihael, Matt and Near's parents. And who exactly was Watari and L to them, and whether everyone here was blood related to each or not (They didn't look like it). I knew it would be prying into their personal lives, and I barely knew anyone here, so I held my tongue back.

"Curious, [Name]?" Asked L, "About how our little family works?"

I looked up, slightly confused and dazed, "Huh? How did you know?"

"Your expression." L pointed out, biting his thumb, "It's pretty obvious."

I could feel my ears and cheeks burning, "U-Um…"

"So you are."

Matt smiled, "It's alright, [Name]. For starters, none of us here are related."

From then on, all my questions were slowly answered. Not all at once, of course, but as time moved on I got to know a little bit of everyone's backround. I started to hang around more with Mello and Matt at school, and even outside school. I quickly learned that Matt loved playing videogames and that Mello had a strong addiction to chocolate.

I eventually uncovered the meaning behind the name "Mello" too.

"Mello" was Mihael's nickname, which was only used by his close friends (Which weren't a lot of people) and people he considered family. I found out that he was adopted by L when he was younger, and it was around that time that he picked up the nickname. How? Mello didn't know either.

But he wasn't the only one with a nickname. Matt's real name was actually Mail Jeevas. He said that when he was younger, people often teased him about his name. But shortly after when Mello moved into the city and the two became friends, he picked up the nickname "Matt".

"It's actually pronounced Mile[2]." Matt said, "But Matt's easier to pronounce, or so Mello said."

"Near's the same as well." Mello snorted, "A few years after I was adopted, Near entered the picture as well. But at that time, he was only known as Nate Rivers."

Matt rolled his eyes, and whispered to me, "Mello's a sore loser, but it's even worse when it comes to Near. Near didn't start anything bad with Mello, Mello's just brought it on himself to suddenly win everything against Near. Test scores, sporting events, L's attention…"

"So, it's like sibling rivalry between those two, huh?" I said. Matt nodded, "Near is homeschooled by L and Watari, but Mello said that he might be moving into our school next year. Near's…Pretty quiet, as you probably already know. L thinks that moving Near into our school will help him socialize more."

As for L and Watari, I soon found out that L was adopted by Watari when he was younger from the same orphanage that Mello and Near were once in. When they moved into the city, L and Watari opened up their own business, a café. Wammy's café, the same café I've heard so much about in school. It's pretty popular from what I've heard.

Each and every day that I spent with Mello and Matt, our friendship grew stronger. And soon enough, our first year of high school ended. But at least this summer vacation was going to be eventful.

[1]Your referring to him as Mihael since you don't know about the name "Mello". Yet.

[2]It actually is.

Thank you for all the comments and messages so far, guys! I really appreciate it, and it's good to know that everyone is liking the story so far! In case I got anyone confused about yours and the Wammy boys' backround story, here's a short summary of it all, including additional info…

*When L was younger, he was adopted by Watari.

*Eventually, Mello was adopted by L himself. And a few years after that, Near was also adopted.

*They eventually moved into the city, and L and Watari opened up Wammy's Café. Mello and Matt also became friends around the same time, and Mello was the one who suggested Mail to take up the nickname "Matt" to stop people from teasing him about his real name (Personally, I think Mail has an awesome name).

*This is a flashback chapter; you're actually now in you're third year of high school. In Chapter One, it says that Near didn't move into your school until last year. Near was homeschooled until the beginning of your second year of high school. That's when he entered the school as well.

Looking back at the last three chapters, Near is noticeably more "open" (Him laughing at Chapter One) and Mello's "hatred" for Near is also more noticeable as well. I thinking, since Near's transfer to a public high school, and the fact that you and Matt basically visit his house almost everyday (Even though you're there for Mello) must mean that his guard isn't as tight around you or Matt. And Mello's "hatred" for Near must've heightened since his arrival into the school since he's basically now known as "second best".

Leave a review to tell me what you guys think so far! Have you noticed it's the longest chapter yet? Haha!